COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 13th-ranked Ohio State women’s lacrosse team opens its home slate with No. 20 Boston College at 1 p.m. Saturday on the turf field located south of the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. This is the first contest against a ranked opponent of the year for the Buckeyes, who sit at 1-1 on the young season after defeating William & Mary and falling to Louisville.

IF YOU GOFans attending the game vs. Boston College on the outdoor turf field adjacent to WHAC are asked to park in the “Gray Lots” around Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The main entrance for guests will be the gate leading to Buckeye Field, Ohio State’s softball stadium. Admission to the game, and to all regular-season home games this season, is free. On the CAMPUS MAP, the field is located south of building 270 with parking available adjacent to #092 and the field entrance accessible through #108.

LIVE ACTIONUnable to make it to the game? Live stats can be followed via Gametracker and Twitter updates can be received from @OhioState_WLAX. All means of live action can be found on the Buckeyes’ Gameday page, updated prior to each contest.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Buckeyes opened the season with back-to-back road games and are 1-1 after defeating William & Mary, 21-8, Wednesday and falling to Louisville, 12-11, in the opener last Saturday.

Saturday vs. No. 20 Boston College is the first of seven games against teams to start the season ranked among the Top 20 in the IWLCA poll. The Buckeyes were 2-6 against ranked foes last season, but 9-0 against unranked competition.

SCOUTING BOSTON COLLEGEThe Eagles are 2-0 on the season with wins over Holy Cross, 17-8, and Vanderbilt, 13-8. Covie Stanwick is leading the charge with nine goals and 13 total points, along with Sarah Mannelly, who also has 13 points off eight goals, five assists. Six total players have scored for the team averaging 15 goals per game.

SERIES HISTORYThis is the first meeting between Ohio State and Boston College on the women’s lacrosse field.

COACHING CONNECTIONSThe Eagles are coached by first-year leader Acacia Walker, a former teammate and coaching colleague of Buckeye head coach Alexis Venechanos. The pair played together at Maryland for two seasons before overlapping stints at Northwestern as assistants and at UMass during Venechanos’ final two seasons as head coach. Walker was Venechanos’ associate head coach at UMass before moving to Boston College in the same position prior to the 2011 season.

TEWAARATON TROPHYTayler Kuzma is among the 50 collegiate players named to the Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List, released Friday by the Tewaaraton Foundation. The list includes the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlight the early contenders for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award. The Buckeyes' No. 1 shutdown defender, Kuzma has started all 34 games played in her career. Two games into the season, the Bel Air, Md., native leads the team in groundballs (5) and has three caused turnovers and two draw controls to her credit.

HELPING HANDSJackie Cifarelli has produced a team-leading nine assists through the first two games of the year, including a career-high tying six in the win over William & Mary last Wednesday. The sophomore attacker finished last season with the most assists (32) of any freshman in Division I and was second on the team in points and assists, behind Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer Alayna Markwordt.

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENTJuniors Cara Facchina and Katie Chase are the leading goal scorers in the early part of the season. Each have six through two games, with Facchina holding an addition four assists to her credit. Chase has tallied a hat trick in each contest, while Facchina tallied two in the opener vs. Louisville and a career-high tying four in the win over William & Mary.

LAST TIME OUTLed by eight points from sophomore Jackie Cifarelli, the 13th-ranked Buckeyes downed William & Mary, 21-8, Wednesday afternoon at Martin Family Stadium at Albert-Daly Field in Williamsburg, Va. In all, 26 OSU players saw action in the contest and nine found the back of the net at least once, with seven securing multi-goal games. Junior Cara Facchina and sophomore Jennifer Porretto each netted a career-high four goals in the win, while junior Katie Chase added a hat trick. Defensively, the Buckeyes forced 15 of the Tribe’s 18 turnovers with sophomore Taylor Donahue commanding a personal-best five of them.

UP NEXTThe Buckeyes are poised to meet No. 9 Notre Dame at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27 in South Bend, Ind. The Irish opened their season with a 12-10 win over Stanford Feb. 16 and are off until they meet the Buckeyes next week.

ROSTER BREAKDOWNThe 2013 roster features three seniors, six juniors, 11 sophomores and 12 freshmen, hailing from 12 states and Canada. There are nine attackers, 13 midfielders, seven defenders and three goalies.

IN THE POLLSThe Buckeyes are ranked 13th in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association (IWLCA) Preseason Poll released Feb. 6. Ohio State is one of five American Lacrosse Conference teams to begin the season in the Top 20, tying the ACC for the most teams from one league. In other polls, the Buckeyes also were selected 13th by Lacrosse Magazine and came in 20th in the preseason deBeer Media Poll. IWLCA rankings will be acknowledged as the official poll position throughout the season with the first regular-season edition to be released Monday, Feb. 25.

TOUGH SLATEOhio State has seven games scheduled against teams ranked in the Top 20 of the IWLCA preseason poll, beginning Saturday vs. No. 20 Boston College in the team’s home opener. No. 1 Northwestern, No. 3 Florida, No. 10 Penn State and No. 19 Johns Hopkins account for the four conference matchups with an additional three on tap vs. No. 7 Duke, No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 20 Boston College. Five of these games will take place on the road.

BUCKEYES ONLINEKeep up with the Ohio State women’s lacrosse team throughout the year on OhioStateBuckeyes.com, the official website of the Ohio State Department of Athletics. In addition, the team is on Twitter (@OhioState_WLAX), facebook (facebook.com/OhioStateWomensLacrosse) and Instagram (instagram.com/ohiostatewlax). In addition, make sure to bookmark - http://go.osu.edu/wlax_gameday - for information in advance of each of the Buckeyes’ games this season.

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONJoin the Buckeyes for a 10-year anniversary celebration of the 2003 ALC Championship season as they take on Vanderbilt at noon April 7. There will be a banquet in Ohio Stadium at the conclusion of the contest, for the cost of $40 per ticket. For more information, contact Gabby Capuzzi (Capuzzi.2@osu.edu).